Cross-modal Sensitivity to Sound Symbolism in Chinese Preschoolers' Pinyin Learning: Preliminary Evidence from the Bouba-Kiki Effect.

Sound symbolism refers to a non-arbitrary cross-modal mapping between speech forms and visual or conceptual features. Although the Bouba-Kiki effect has been widely demonstrated across languages, its role in Chinese preschool children and in Pinyin learning remains underexplored. The present study investigated whether Chinese preschoolers exhibit the Bouba-Kiki effect and whether it may contribute to Pinyin symbol learning. Three experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 tested whether children show reliable sound-shape matching tendencies. Experiment 2 examined whether sound-shape congruency influences associative learning in a Pinyin-based context. Experiment 3 further explored whether sound symbolism may provide a potential facilitative cue in Pinyin symbol recognition. Results showed that preschool children consistently demonstrated sound-shape matching tendencies, and learning performance under congruent conditions showed a relative and trend-level advantage. However, effects related to Pinyin learning were overall modest and did not consistently reach statistical significance. These findings suggest that sound symbolism may function as an auxiliary cross-modal cue in early language learning, while its effects on Pinyin acquisition require further validation under more stringent experimental conditions.